


Our Fearless Leaders

by EmeraldShine



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Haunted Houses, I COULD wait until October to share this but I'm an impatient bi-, Not really scary but I guess it could still spook ya, Seasonally inappropriate fic posting, don't worry nobody gets hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldShine/pseuds/EmeraldShine
Summary: The kids of Misthallery (minus Hans) go to a haunted house. It can't be too scary, right? They're prepared for this! ...Right?Can also be summed up as "I'm a brave boy! *enters haunted house* NOT A BRAVE ENOUGH BOY FOR THIS-"
Kudos: 1





	Our Fearless Leaders

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Halloween on the Professor Layton Amino last year. Not my best work, and I've definitely gotten better at writing since this, but it's got some good bits in it :)  
> (If you wanna know everyone's costumes, check the end note!)

“Don’t go to a haunted house,” they said.

“Screw that, we’re going in a haunted house,” they said right back, “the Black Ravens aren’t pansies.”

“Hell yeah,” said Socket, not thinking that he would see any dolls around.

There was a pop-up haunted house that had come to London, and of course the kids of Misthallery wanted to go. Their town was small - the most they used to do on Halloween was go up to Highyard Hill, which was a creepy attraction in and of itself, but now there was little mystique about it now that they’d befriended the Bardes. Although still a bit creepy, they’d gotten used to it, so what was the point?

A haunted house, though, especially a pop-up one, was where it was at.

All the Ravens, even Badger, wanted to go, just to say that they had. Tony was a bit hesitant at first, but he went along; soon followed Arianna, both because her younger brother had convinced her and because she wanted to make sure he was safe there, even (or perhaps, _especially_ ) if he was accompanied by the Ravens.

There was one day, just a few before Halloween, that was unexpectedly slow in the market, so they took this opportunity to take off. Sean, Finch, Charlie, Brock, Luke - they got all of them to come. Their plan was set.

(Hans? Yeah, they didn’t invite him. Their grudge against him is almost as bad as Robin and Evan Barde.

...Almost. Not quite up there, but close.)

On the evening of Halloween, there were no trick-or-treaters, none of the usual crowd. They had all gone to London as soon as there was no more work to be done, dressed in their planned outfits.

Marilyn’s dress billowed as they walked down the paved streets, which annoyed her, even though she had intended it to do so. After all, it wouldn’t be accurate if it didn’t fly up at every grate.

Some of them were wearing matching outfits. Tony, Sean, and Arianna had planned to do such, but only the Bardes came with clothing from the correct franchise. Sean had insisted that he’d just misheard them, but they knew that he just wanted to dress up like one of his favorite characters.

Crow and Robin - or rather, _Bat_ and Robin - were thematically dressed, as well. With Socket at her side in case she required assistance, Robin had been able to install lenses into her mask so that she didn’t have to wear her glasses over it if needed.

The group walked towards the haunted house, chattering about what they might find and who would get scared at what. With all (but one) of the Misthallery kids joining the party, they knew that, in true horror fashion, they would have to split up once they got there. Humorously, all of the siblings unintentionally formed one group; Badger tagged along with Marilyn and Louis; Tweeds and Scraps accompanied Sean and a Joker-faced Brock; which left Charlie with those annoying boys (i.e., Nabby, Finch, and Luke).

As the children approached the haunted house, they saw to their surprise that the line as just dying down. A couple of workers who were manning the entrance complimented them on their outfits, causing a stream of reactions ranging from “oh, stop” to “oh, start”.

“Quiet night,” Marilyn quipped.

“On the contrary, actually,” one of the workers responded. “We’ve had quite a crowd! You kids came at a good hour - I expect the traffic will get much worse when it's _really_ late at night.”

A few comments were thrown out about what luck and timing they had as the worker scanned the group; she seemed to be nervous about something.

“Oh, and uh,” Robin quickly piped up in an absent-minded tone. “We’ve already split ourselves up, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

“Good,” commented the other worker, “can’t have too many people in there at once - safety reasons and all that. Do you guys already know what to expect from this house in particular?”

They all nodded. The Ravens had done their research beforehand - they weren’t amateurs.

“Well then,” the first worker said, putting on a conniving grin. “Who wants to go first?”

There were a few exchanges of glances and hands quietly being raised before Socket suddenly jumped forward with a loud “ME! Er, us!”

Crow and Wren let out weary sighs. “Yeah, whatever you say, Sock…” his sister muttered, reluctantly following her eager twin.

The group of six siblings were led inside by the woman, leaving the rest to determine what order they would go in.

It was a typical haunted house, but that didn’t take away from their enjoyment of it. People popped out at them when they least expected it, painted eyes and sculpted heads seemed to track their every move - typical scary stuff. Frightening, to be fair, but nothing new. The group neared an intersection, when suddenly

_CRASH!_

A slight yelp emitted from Tony (and Wren) as they whirled around to see a broken lamp lying next to a dresser. It had been nowhere near the edge when they’d passed it earlier. The elder kids laughed it off a little, knowing that it was probably pushed over by something hidden in the wall. Wren and the Bardes, however, were more immersed in the atmosphere of the place. Regardless, they continued on to the intersection.

Rounding the corner, they were immediately greeted by- The Black Raven?!

Wait. No. It was just a plague doctor. ...They had to admit, the masks _DO_ look pretty creepy.

The group, especially the four Ravens, chuckled as they passed, much to the actor’s confusion and slight dismay.

Eventually, they reached a door at the end of a hall. Robin moved to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. She looked over at the others, who shrugged; this was the only obvious way to go, so maybe it being stuck was just part of the atmosphere.

After a more forceful push, Robin (who had applied more force than actually needed) tumbled into a room full of--

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!”

The group jumped at Socket’s sudden scream - aside from Wren, who had burst out laughing as Socket hid behind her in an attempt to avoid the gaze of dozens of dolls.

Truth be told, they _were_ kind of creepy - after all, it was a haunted house. But the others, who certainly didn’t share Socket’s deathly fear of dolls -- especially porcelain dolls, which this room had no shortage of -- were no match for the boy’s fright.

They decided that they’d better leave quick. Wren laughed hysterically as she trailed behind the twins, her brother clinging to her back. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been this humorous if Socket hadn’t decided to dress as Hercules for the night.

~~~~~

Marilyn, Louis, and Badger followed a few rooms behind. They encountered mostly the same things, except they had decided to take a right where the others had gone left.

At one point, they reached a lift. It was one of the old rickety scissor gates, the kind where you could see exactly what was behind the door at all times - kind of like a regular lift, but if someone had punched holes into the sides.

It seemed as though there was no other way to go but up, so the trio entered the elevator and prompted it to transport them upstairs.

As it was an old lift, it was really no surprise that it operated and responded rather slowly. That’s why, when they noticed that the dead-end corridor opposite them looked slightly redder than before, they began to get nervous.

Louis tapped the button again, just to make sure that the lift had processed it. This time, the door shuddered closed with a loud rattling clang. Through the riddled car, they could see the red splitting into oranges and yellows, becoming brighter and larger — closer. Louis adjusted his cape, both out of nervousness and because was it getting hot in here, or was it just him?

Starting to get restless, Marilyn leaned over and pressed the button repeatedly. _Come on, come ON!!_

The fire was approaching more quickly than they’d liked. Suddenly, the car jolted upward, causing them to stumble out of surprise. They began to ascend to the next floor, but it wasn’t fast enough; the worst of the heat alone would probably hit the car before it was even halfway up. Badger grabbed Marilyn’s hand, the latter returning his grasp.

As the fire made it to the end of the hallway, the lift just barely managed to escape. The trio jumped back as flames licked the bottom of the door - but they looked...wrong. Like…

Oh my God. Louis chuckled and shook his head. They were made of the same material used for those fake torches people put on their door on nights like this.

Badger managed a weak chuckle himself, but though it sounded forced, he did truly enjoy the adrenaline rush it gave them.

The lift stopped at the first floor, opening the door to fully reveal a wave of water rushing towards them from around the corner.

Marilyn groaned. “Oh, you’ve GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!”

~~~~~

Scraps led the way down the corridor, whose walls were covered with peeling wallpaper, stained patches, and creepy paintings. Sean commented that it looked like something straight out a horror game, which they all supposed was a good thing, for a haunted house. The atmosphere made them all a little bit nervous, aside from Brock, who kept giggling at the strangest things.

They reached a dimly-lit hallway. Already not a good sign. The four of them crept down the corridor carefully, as if a single creak of a floorboard would give away their presence. All of a sudden,

_VROOM!_

They all froze, even Brock, though he looked more curious than terrified. Turning around, they saw standing at the end of the hall a man with a hockey mask. In his hands was a chainsaw.

Tweeds and Scraps looked at each other. With the exception of Brock, all three of them screamed and booked it down the hallway. The eldest kid was laughing wholeheartedly, jogging behind them so that he wouldn’t fall back.

Had he not been there (and had they not been dressed in some ridiculous outfits), it really would have looked like something straight out of a horror game.

~~~~~

Charlie walked along, trying not to screech at the top of his lungs. If he showed any fear now, they would never let him live it down.

To Finch, Luke, and Nabby, though, they were more concerned about the actual haunted house. Who knew what was going to be waiting around the corner…

“Hold on,” Finch muttered, stopping in the middle of the hall. His Ghostbuster costume was rather fitting here as he jokingly reached for the device strapped to his back. He squinted up at the ceiling, because it was clearly the source of that chittering noise…

There was a small bundle of threads hanging down. Not enough to be a rope, but not too few that it was barely visible. Hesitantly, Finch pulled on it.

A door attached to the cord swung down, dumping a sea of arachnids and insects into the hall.

Several feet away, Charlie could be heard screaming as the four of them ran down the hall into the next and final room.

It was in this room that all seventeen of them encountered the same exact horror. Something so terrible, something so horrifying that it can’t be brought to words.

Regardless to say, they were all shaken after their shared encounter. Robin looked at Luke, who was part of the last group to exit the building. “...Aunt Taffy’s got a stash of candy loaded for tonight…”

The other children seemed to brighten a bit.

“Yeah,” Crow murmured, catching on, “why don’t we head back and see how much sugar we can eat before the night’s over?”

The Black Raven’s comments elicited a chuckle from the group. Deciding that it was the best course of action, they all slowly began their trip home, chattering about what they found and who got scared by what.

None of them, however, mentioned the sights contained in the bloodied walls of the last room.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I actually drew the characters in poses from those absolutely amazing reaction images from Nightmares Fear Factory (I never finished the piece, though 😔). Half of the costumes can be explained with "because p u n s" or "it fit too perfectly NOT to do it"
> 
> Socket - Hercules  
> Wren - Circus Baby  
> Crow - Batman  
> Robin - Boy Wonder  
> Arianna - Princess Leia  
> Tony - Stormtrooper
> 
> Marilyn - Marilyn Monroe  
> Louis - vampire (legit, I just made his costume Anton's)  
> Badger - Peter Pan
> 
> Nabby - zombie  
> Finch - Ghostbuster  
> Luke - pirate  
> Charlie - werewolf
> 
> Sean - Picard  
> Brock - literally just himself, but w/ Joker paint (at the insistence of the Ravens)  
> Tweeds - Charlie Brown  
> Scraps - Waldo


End file.
